On the Scene

THE 1996 election was a wake-up call for Northeastern Republicans, with GOP congressmen being defeated in Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. New Hampshire mostly avoided this trend: its voters returned conservative Sen. Bob Smith to office (much to the chagrin of Dan Rather and CBS News), Republicans won both House seats, and the state legislature remains solidly Republican. Nonetheless, New Hampshire Republicans suffered one of the region’s more shocking defeats when their candidate for governor, the conservative Ovide LaMontagne, was painted as an extremist and soundly thrashed by the Democratic candidate, the disturbingly Clintonesque Jeanne Shaheen.

Still, with Republicans in control of the state legislature one would assume that Mrs. Shaheen could be easily contained. Guess again. By patronizing the Right, legislating to the left, and proclaiming herself a centrist, Jeanne Shaheen is doing to the Republican majority in New Hampshire what Bill Clinton is doing to the Republican leadership in Washington: steamrolling them with a smile and handshake.

JM

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Justin G. Maiona

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THE 1996 election was a wake-up call for Northeastern Republicans, with GOP congressmen being defeated in Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. New Hampshire mostly avoided this trend: its voters returned conservative Sen. Bob Smith to office (much to the chagrin of Dan Rather and CBS News), Republicans won both House seats, and the state legislature remains solidly Republican. Nonetheless, New Hampshire Republicans suffered one of the region’s more shocking defeats when their candidate for governor, the conservative Ovide LaMontagne, was painted as an extremist and soundly thrashed by the Democratic candidate, the disturbingly Clintonesque Jeanne Shaheen.

Still, with Republicans in control of the state legislature one would assume that Mrs. Shaheen could be easily contained. Guess again. By patronizing the Right, legislating to the left, and proclaiming herself a centrist, Jeanne Shaheen is doing to the Republican majority in New Hampshire what Bill Clinton is doing to the Republican leadership in Washington: steamrolling them with a smile and handshake.